One of the great truths of the universe is
that whenever a deal looks too good to be true, brother, you'd
better read the fine print. Unfortunately for Louis de Pointe
du Lac (Brad Pitt), he had failed to learn this truth by the
time he met up with the mysterious Lestat (Tom Cruise).
Lestat, you see, is a vampire.
The film opens in modern day San Francisco.
We meet Louis and learn that he is, in fact, also a vampire.
For reasons that remain his own, he seeks out a reporter (Christian
Slater) and offers to tell him his life story. He tells us that
he was not always a creature of the night.
Flash back to New Orleans in the late 1700's.
Louis has recently lost his wife and child and is spiraling
into the depths of his own personal hell. He wishes to die,
but lacks the courage to take his own life. Instead, he lives
recklessly, daring anyone to end his life for him. It is his
misfortune that the one person who takes the dare is the vampire
Lestat.
Lestat seduces Louis and drinks his blood.
Lying on the brink of death, Louis is offered a choice: die,
or drink from Lestat and live forever. Still lacking the courage
to allow his own life to end, Louis makes his choice and gorges
upon Lestat's blood.
The two vampires embark on nightly, lust-filled
massacres in New Orleans. For Lestat, it is an opportunity to
mold Louis into an image of himself. Louis, meanwhile, seeks
the meaning of life, and death, and becomes frustrated when
Lestat cannot answer his questions.
Seeing that Louis is slipping from his grasp,
Lestat tries once more to tighten his hold by creating a daughter
(Kirsten Dunst) for the two men to care for. His ploy works
for a while and the three vampires terrorize the night. But
eventually, Louis and the child vampire, Claudia, begin to distrust
Louis and plot to leave him.
Ultimately, Louis and Claudia journey the
world to seek out other vampires. They eventually find themselves
in Paris, where they meet vampires Armand (Antonio Banderas)
and Santiago (Stephen Rhea). Armand has organized a group of
fellow vampires and they amuse themselves by putting on theatrical
productions where they murder people in front of crowds of humans
who don't realize what they are watching is real.
Louis is hoping that Armand has the answers
that Lestat lacked, but it quickly becomes clear to him that
Armand knows very little and is simply content to live in his
world of decadence. Armand wants Louis to join him, to be his
connection to the modern world, but Louis realizes that he has
nothing in common with the group of vampires and when they take
away all that he cares for, he lashes out at them and flees
back to New Orleans.
Part of the appeal of the film is that while
the story is highly romanticized, there is nothing romantic
about being a vampire. On the surface is seems like a great
deal -- live forever, follow your own rules, possess great power.
But the catch is infinite sadness and loneliness. If Louis felt
himself alone following the death of his wife and daughter,
that was nothing compared to spending endless nights in the
shadows of the world.
Those who walk away from this film still thinking
it would be cool to live that lifestyle obviously weren't paying
attention.
Interview With The Vampire is an excellent
film and a worthy adaptation of the novel. The acting is first-rate,
with a memorable performance by Tom Cruise, who plays far against
type as the viscous Lestat. Also a standout is the acting job
turned in by Kirsten Dunst. She steals every scene she's in
with a convincing portrayal of a child vampire who is spoiled
by an eternal life of never having to follow rules.
Also of note is the art direction and cinematography.
The film simply looks stunning and it conveys such an effective
portrayal of the endless nights that when we finally get a daytime
shot of the sun it is almost as blinding to us as it is painful
to the vampires.
